Minutes of the Board of Directors, The Special Hope Foundation

After receiving proper notice via email on August 3, 2004, a quorum of the Directors named either by the Incorporator or listed in the Articles of Incorporation, constituting the Board of Directors of this Corporation, held their meeting at this time, on the day, and at the place set forth as follows:

TIME: 7:15 p.m.
DATE: Thursday, August 26, 2004
PLACE: The O’Hara Home
757 Harvard Avenue, Menlo Park, CA

The following Directors, constituting a quorum of the full Board, were present at the meeting:

  • Lynne O’Hara, President
  • John O’Hara, Vice-President
  • Mary Wilson, Treasurer
  • Ed Hoskins, Secretary
  • Carrie Jones
  • Tracie Sloat  

Minutes Approved

The first order of business involved the review of the minutes from the previous Board Meeting on May 10, 2004. All reviewed and accepted the minutes (except for Tracie who didn’t have a chance to read them).  

Review of Existing Business

Based upon our decision in the prior meeting to increase our grant budget in order to lower our tax rate, the grant and tax portion were calculated for the 2004-05 fiscal year.  After reviewing the new budget, the motion was made to approve the new budget figures.  The motion was unanimously passed.

Based on the motions that were passed in the previous meeting, the following grants were recently funded:

  • Hope Technology School was granted $41,200
  • Hope for India was granted $3500
  • Parents Helping Parents $10,300

Tracie went to an ASF seminar having to do with family foundations.  She learned about some of the issues that happen in there, but felt fortunate that our group has it pretty easy compared with most.

Lynne shared some feedback that she has recently obtained from some of the organizations that the Special Hope Foundation has funded:

  • Hope Technology School was extremely grateful.   The funds have made a tremendous impact, the money we have provided has changed the destinies of so many children.  Specifically 21 students benefited from the tuition assistance program.
  • PHP (Parents Helping Parents)have displayed our name on their donor wall.
  • Hope worldwide sent an article on a resident at the facility that we funded who participated in the Special Olympics.
  • Achieve Kids was able to meet or excede all of their proposal objectives.  The report was glowing.  We were mentioned in a publication that they published.  

Committee Reports

Communications Committee – Ed Hoskins

The budget spreadsheet was posted in .pdf format, which worked much better than the prior html format.  Lynne will send the spreadsheet to Ed each quarter so that the file can be converted and posted on the internal site in the new format.

Advisory Committee – John O’Hara

John spoke briefly about the advisory committee round table that is scheduled for September 18th.  Some of the members who had been invited will not be able to attend, but there should be enough for the meeting to be beneficial.

Finance & Investments Committee – Mary Wilson

Mary went over the current Budget vs. Actual spreadsheet.  Our actual number continue to be very close to our projected estimates.  Actual numbers are currently about 1.7% above estimates.  

*NOTE – John O’Hara left the meeting due to a family emergency  

Grant Review

The Family YMCA of Black Hawk County

The Family YMCA of Black Hawk County is developing a program to include disabled children in a variety of YMCA programs.  In addition, they would like to document all that they learn so that they can share the program that they develop with other organizations in Black Hawk County that also have similar programs for children.  Their hope is that if the program is successful, that they will standardize this program throughout the nation.

The motion was made to grant $10,000 to The Family YMCA of Black Hawk County this grant cycle.  The motion was unanimously passed.  

All Together Now

This organization initially appeared to be a clinic that directly benefits special needs children However,  on closer inspection, it turned out to be a fundraising organization that provides mimimal direct services.   After speaking with a representative, there are simply too many red flags to consider them for funding.

Stepping Stones Foundation

Lynne spoke with a representative from the Stepping Stones Foundation, and felt that some of the answers to her questions were vague and didn’t provide clear answers.  After further inspection, and after researching similar organizations, this foundation turned out to be neither innovative nor unique, therefore, the proposal was denied.

CAR – Community Association for Rehabilitation

  • Although the program that CAR would like us to fund is inclusive, this is not an inclusive organization
  • We’re currently funding a similar program (Hope Technology School), and it would be nice if we could promote these two groups together so that they could learn from one another.
  • On average, 30% of the special needs children who goes through the infant program can be mainstreamed into a typical preschool.  
  • They anticipate that the preschool program will generate much of what it needs through tuition.

The motion was made to grant $15,000 to CAR this grant cycle.  The motion was unanimously passed.

Renaissance Learning Center

  • This is an inclusive program, although much of the school is not inclusive
  • They would like to turn their program into a resource for other groups.
  • This is more field trip oriented.

The motion was made to $10,000 to the Renaissance Learning Center this grant cycle.  The motion was unanimously passed.

Hope Technology School

Carrie excused herself from the grant discussions and vote due to here potential conflict of interest with the Hope Technology School.

  • The Hope Technology School has been a huge part of why we are here, and has helped us develop our mission and purpose.  We would like to do whatever we can in order for this school to succeed, and as a last push to get their Preschool program off the ground, it is proposed that we grant them $100,000.
  • One issue is that they have not provided us with adequate financial information (that contain actual figures).   We need to encourage them to work on their accounting, since financials are critical in obtaining outside funding.

The motion was made to grant a total of $100,000 to the Hope Technology School.  $33,000 will be granted in this grant cycle, and the remainder will be granted in subsequent cycles.  The motion was unanimously passed.  

This completes the $68,000 total that we are budgeted to grant this cycle.  

New Business

How can you measure a change in attitude?  In other words, how can you tell if the attitudes of typical children (and their parents) have changed after being involved in an inclusive program?  The University of Minnisota has developed a  “Disability Questionnaire” that attempts to measure the change.  Lynne passed out the questionnaire to the board along with an answer sheet.

The advisory committee meetings have become burdensome for some members, so it has been decided to only use the advisors on an individual bases when needed.  A letter will be drafted  and sent out to the members putting the committee on hold indefinitly.

The date and format for the next meeting were discussed.  It is scheduled for Saturday, November 6th at 7:00 p.m.  It will be a normal meeting, but it will be held at the Foundation Incubator.  

And idea came up that instead of only funding grantees, maybe the Special Hope Foundation could host an event that will help special needs organizations dialog and share information.  

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the meeting, upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.

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Lynne O’Hara, President

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Ed Hoskins, Secretary